Today I drove Karen to camp and on the way home I had a bit of a revelation. On the way home I was speeding (not too fast) along, the windows wide open, enjoying breathing in the fresh spring air, hair blowing everywhere. The radio was on and I was belting out full throttle Alanis Morissette. Well I pulled up to a red light and across the road from me was a woman waiting in her car also. Her windows were up, her hair in a crisp, spotless do, talking on her cell phone with a disgusted look on her face. And it hit me.

I'm happy.

I mean, my life is far from perfect, there are many parts of it I can't stand at all. And there are parts of it that I wish weren't there. And there are times I feel the whole world tumbling down around me. As is life. But I'm happy with how I am, with how I think and act and live and what is important to me and I believe in. I'm happy I don't care that I'm messing up my hair while I drive down the highway singing at the top of my lungs. I have things that I want to accomplish eventually, like Europe, and I will. And I'm happy with that.

Further down the road I again was stopped at a red light. This time the man beside me was in a shiny, sleek black car, also talking on a cell phone (notice a pattern?), with his bald spot clearly concealed so he didn't have to deal with the reality of growing old. At this point I had calmed down from the banshee screaming of Alanis and had moved on to some good old Neil Young. So I'm tapping an imaginary drum that is my steering wheel and nodding my head to the music (if you haven't noticed I am the least self conscious while in the car). He man turns his head, and catches my eye, and shakes his head disapprovingly. And I was thinking, listen buddy, leave me alone. I'm happy.

* song of the moment: tunes playing in my head *